No Chinks Found In Prince Gill's Armour

'...he's not shown any obvious signs of dismissal and he's played stylishly.'

Indian captain Shubman Gill played a breath-taking innings of 161 runs in the 2nd innings of the 2nd Test against England at Edgbaston in Birmingham on Saturday

IMAGE: Indian captain Shubman Gill played a breath-taking innings of 161 runs in the 2nd innings of the 2nd Test against England at Edgbaston in Birmingham on Saturday. Photograph: Paul Childs/Action Images via Reuters

Shubman Gill smashed his third hundred in four innings when he followed up his captain's knock of 269 in the first essay with 161 in the second as England struggled to find a chink in the armour of the man nicknamed "The Prince" at Edgbaston on Saturday.

Scorecard

India piled on the runs to set the hosts a mammoth target of 608 on the back of Gill's scintillating knock. The other contributions in the second innings came from Ravindra Jadeja (69 not out), Rishabh Pant (65) and KL Rahul (55) as India declared their second innings at 427 for six.

The Indian pacers once again got the new ball to talk with Akash Deep accounting for the dangerous Ben Duckett and the dependable Joe Root while and Mohammed Siraj had Zak Crawley caught at backward point with a full outswinger, reducing the hosts to 72 for three in 16 overs at stumps on day four.

Former England fast bowler Stuart Broad analysed Gill's batting and failed to find a chink in his armour.

"As a bowler, I'll be looking for technical things so I could expose him, but he's not shown any obvious signs of dismissal and he's played stylishly," Broad told Sky Sports.

"He's played with huge responsibility, under big pressure. It's breath-taking and deserves all the applause he is going to get."

Indian batters have often struggled in seaming conditions in England but Gill mixed elegance and explosiveness to torment the bowlers.

England's Ben Stokes shakes hands with India's Shubman Gill after he loses his wicket for 161 runs on Day 4 of the 2nd Test at Edgbaston in Birmingham on Saturday

IMAGE: England's Ben Stokes shakes hands with India's Shubman Gill after he loses his wicket for 161 runs on Day 4 of the 2nd Test at Edgbaston in Birmingham on Saturday. Photograph: Paul Childs/Action Images via Reuters

Gill has made 430 runs this match. Former India captain Sachin Tendulkar only made more than that in a Test series three times.

Having also scored a century in the first Test, Gill took his run tally to 585 in two matches, only trailing Virat Kohli (593) and Rahul Dravid (602).

Wth three matches left.in the series, Gill could easily break that record.

Gill, who got to three figures at the stroke of tea, stepped up his offensive against the spin duo of Shoaib Bashir and part timer Joe Root, employing the sweep to deep square and mid-wicket fence regularly.

It would be interesting to see what approach England adopts though their philosophy in the Ben Stokes-Brendon McCullum is driven by results and not draws. The only draw in the Bazball era, the Old Trafford game in Ashes 2023, was caused by rain.